Flames Finish Linger Longer Invite in Fifth Place

Chase Marinell led the Flames at the Linger Longer Invitational, finishing tied for fifth place with a four-under par 212.

Liberty was one of only a handful of teams that was able to survive the challenging final round conditions at the Linger Longer Invitational where the Flames finished the two-day event tied for fifth place.

Rain and cooler temperatures made the par-72, 7,073-yard Great Waters Golf Course at Reynolds Planation much more challenging on Sunday where only three teams in the 15-team field carded scores below 300.

Liberty nearly added a fourth team to the group, as the Flames finished with a 14-over par 302 to climb one spot up the leaderboard.

Liberty (281-291-302), currently ranked No. 41 in the country by Golfstat and No. 39 by Golfweek, finished the event tied with tournament co-host No. 33/36 Mercer (278-287-309). Both teams finished with an overall 10-over par 874.

No. 5/5 Georgia kept two-time event defending champion Alabama from winning the title for the third year in a row. The Bulldogs (278-278-281) bested the Crimson Tide (281-275-291) by 10 shots during the final round to win the tournament by the same margin with a 27-under par 837 to Alabama's 17-under par 847.

No. 15/13 Oklahoma took third place with a three-over par 867 (271-295-301) to finish ahead of No. 26/22 Clemson, who posted a six-over par 870 (286-286-298).

Georgia also took home individual medalist honors for the event. After the Bulldogs' Michael Cromie (71-67-69) and Alabama's Robby Shelton (69-66-72) finished tied atop the 84-man leaderboard, Cromie was able to claim the honor with a birdie on the first playoff hole.

Liberty's Chase Marinell was five shots off the overall pace and finished tied for fifth place with a four-under par 212 (68-72-72). The senior closed out his best showing of the spring evenly offsetting four bogeys with for birdies and he led the event in par-4 scoring (3.90 average).

Niklas Lindstrom moved up the leaderboard 10 spots on Sunday to finish tied for 15th place with an even-par 216 (68-75-73). The senior eagled the par-5, No. 18 hole (his 12th hole of the day) to get back to level par on the day, but a double bogey on the par-5, No. 2 hole kept him from finishing the event in red figures.

Mathieu Fenasse was unable to keep us his under-par scoring on Sunday, falling back to a share of 25th place with an overall three-over par 219 (71-71-77). The junior, who finished the event tied for third with 37 pars, closed the tournament with three bogeys, a double bogey and a birdie.

Liberty's final two golfers in the field were Harrison Winger, who finished tied for 61st place with a 14-over par 230 (77-73-80), and Ian McConnell, who finished tied for 70th place with a 17-over par 233 (74-79-80).

The Flames will return to action on April 5 when they welcome George Mason, James Madison and Radford to Poplar Grove Golf Course in Amherst, Va., for a one-day, 36-hole match play event.